Monday, July 11, 2016

The triangle between Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines is one of the most bio-diverse marine habitats in the world. Strong ocean currents, deep-sea trenches and sea mountains, combined with active volcanic islands have created a complex oceanographic environment that is paradise for nature lovers and divers alike.

The beauty of this region lies in its diversity, and the dive spots and marine life vary from island to island, but most people come for the world-famous Sipadan Island located off Sabah’s east coast.

Rising 700m from the sea floor and at only 12hectares, Malaysia's sole oceanic island is tiny, taking just 25-minutes to circumnavigate on foot. Declared a bird sanctuary in 1933 by the Colonial Government of North Borneo and re-gazetted in 1963 by the Malaysian Government, the island’s dense vegetation supports a large variety of tropical birds including sea eagles, kingfishers, sunbirds, starlings and wood pigeons. Exotic crustaceans including the amazing coconut crab roam the beaches and scurry among the undergrowth, with blue skies and tropical scenery Sipadan’s stock in trade.

But it is below the surface of the ocean where this island really excels. The late Jacques Cousteau, world-renowned oceanographer, once described the pristine waters around Sipadan as an untouched piece of art, helping to establish this dive mecca as the most famous scuba destination in Malaysia. The diversity of the island’s marine life is unparalleled, home to thousands of turtles, manta rays, schooling sharks, swirling barracuda, and awe-inspiring coral walls dropping more than 2,000m straight down to the sea floor. Its famed Barrier Reef is the largest in South East Asia and regularly voted by divers as one of the World’s top dive destinations.

So make sure you include this tiny gem – truly one of the last unexplored frontiers on Planet Earth, in any trip to Malaysia. Diver or nature lover, the experience is guaranteed to be unforgettable.

Getting There

The jump-off point for all Sipadan Island explorations is the town of Semporna, a one-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu, followed by a 30-minute speedboat to Mabul.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

IN his continuing search for the more weird and wondrous in this world, Get Up & Go guest blogger David Ellis says a 28 year old flight attendant has been charged in Memphis, Tennessee with stealing more than 1,500 minis of booze from flights she was working.

And rather than to simply enjoy herself or with family or friends in her time off, she allegedly pinched them to sell.

The attendant worked for Delta Airlines’ subsidiary Endeavour Air which sells minis to passengers for US$8-$10 each, and it’s claimed she regularly slipped the tiny bottles of whiskey, vodka, rum, gin and exotic liqueurs into her bag at the end of shifts, later putting them on classified ad websites for just a dollar each.

She was arrested when undercover liquor licencing agents made a number of online purchases, and subsequently charged her under American “profiting from crimes of opportunity” laws with Theft of Property Over $10,000 and Unlawful Sale of Alcohol, and the almost-bizarre Unauthorised Transportation of Alcohol and Unauthorised Storage of Liquor For Sale laws.

And even more weirdly while Endeavour Air could have earned $12,000 from the legal sale of those 1,500 minis on board, all she got from selling them illegally was $1,500… not very rewarding considering she could face from 3 to 15 years in jail when she appears in court again later this year.